There must be away to read it. Apple System Profiler under Classic in Tiger tends to report the actual stepped-down speed, so it must get it from a register in OS X somewhere.
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PowerBook G4 17" High Res Upgrade
- Thread starter benwild_33
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There must be away to read it. Apple System Profiler under Classic in Tiger tends to report the actual stepped-down speed, so it must get it from a register in OS X somewhere.
It would be even better to be able to turn it off or have the same power control as other Macs - it makes rough and ready benchmarking impossible not knowing the speed the processor's at.
Have you tried FastAndSlow? I use this on my G5s for switching between reduced power and faster processing modes on the fly (as you can with the battery menu on the pre-DLSD PowerBooks). It didn't give me any stepping options for the Mac Mini 1.42Ghz, but it might on the DLSD?
I'll try it later but I suspect it just shortcuts the power options on previous Macs. I've never found any real info on the workings of the frequency scaling on the DLSD - or the lack of it on other machines with the same chip.
Didn't work at all on the DLSD - it installs but is greyed out with no options. Does work on my 1.33 iBook though, which according to Open Firmware is the same CPU as the DLSD.
Whilst I was at it I used a video clip as reference point to watch CPU useage on my 1.33 iBook, 1.33 Powerbook and DLSD. On highest settings both 12" machines read 21%, on reduced 30/31% - the DLSD played back at 30/31% on battery and mains, given the higher clock speed I'd have expected different.
Wish there was documentation out there regarding the DLSD power saving scheme and/or a means to inspect it.
I knew I had done this quite often in OpenBSD and here's the OS X equivalent
sysctl hw.cpufrequency
To list all available values just do sysctl -a
To check your current power settings sudo pmset -g (or sudo pmset -g batt if you're on AC)
I tried all those today - they just read out the maximum freq - tried it on DLSD, 1.33 iBook and Powerbook - regardless of power settings.
Doesn't that one only give the stock frequency rather than what it is currently running at?
I also tried to track down any info on the particular 7447B processor in the DLSD - nothing, references to other 7447Bs but not the Powerbook one.
Found this old link talking about Skidmarks ?
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/processor-speed-actual-vs-reported.48010/page-4#post-1868597
sysctl hw.cpufrequency_min
sysctl hw.cpufrequency_max
should normally report the min and max based on your powersetting but indeed doesn't seem to work .
Only messed in OpenBSD with this , which seems to work correctly there.
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/processor-speed-actual-vs-reported.48010/page-4#post-1868597
sysctl hw.cpufrequency_min
sysctl hw.cpufrequency_max
should normally report the min and max based on your powersetting but indeed doesn't seem to work .
Only messed in OpenBSD with this , which seems to work correctly there.
Yes, I remember doing it in Debian and it reported current freq correctly.
Interesting link about Skidmarks - might be worth digging for that.
That's great, thanks!
[doublepost=1505245271][/doublepost]
Skidmarks works as intended on Macs with the 3 way power options but on my DLSD it just reads maximum.
im a bit busy with all the new apple announcements,
but ill quickly mention that the 7447B in the DLSD just supports the normal 2 speed step DFS ranges 833Mhz and 1.67Ghz.
once im a bit less busy ill explain a bit more in depth as to whats going on with the DLSD...
but ill quickly mention that the 7447B in the DLSD just supports the normal 2 speed step DFS ranges 833Mhz and 1.67Ghz.
once im a bit less busy ill explain a bit more in depth as to whats going on with the DLSD...
My 1.67 17" G4 has just turned up at work, got the MacBook screen yesterday. Really looking forward to getting this set up. I'm going to trade in an old sata ssd I have at Cex (a tech trade in shop in the uk) and get an msata drive for the powerbook.
[doublepost=1505471946][/doublepost]Just had a check and it has 2x512mb sticks in it too which confirms both ram slots are working, got 2x1gb sticks on the way now to max it out
[doublepost=1505471946][/doublepost]Just had a check and it has 2x512mb sticks in it too which confirms both ram slots are working, got 2x1gb sticks on the way now to max it out
The adventure begins...
It's a great feeling to repair one of these old PowerPC Macs back to good working order. Knowing that it would have been destined for landfill if you didn't come along to save it.
The next challenge after getting the Mac purring along is training yourself to use the machine effectively and not just shelving it after completion. I try to switch between my PowerPC Macs regularly. I'm on my G5s this week and it was the 15" Aluminum PowerBook last week.
I do need to practice better file management though, I keep misplacing projects, downloads, text docs, design mockups, code snippets and bookmarks as I move between machines and their various operating systems.
I know there are tools for this, but I've given up on Dropbox for PowerPC, it has become such a pain to keep active (and it's a CPU hog on the G4s)
I'm thinking I'll use this a bit more than I use my powermac g4, the powermac is good fun to mess around with and there's loads that can be modified but it's pretty loud and only really gets used for playing old games. I've had a play around on the powerbook and I'm impressed with how quiet it is. The left speaker isn't working so I'll need to look at that when I have it open.
I need to get my PowerPC macs connected properly to my network I'm still having issues with file sharing.
[doublepost=1505494703][/doublepost]Incoming post on club 17
I need to get my PowerPC macs connected properly to my network I'm still having issues with file sharing.
[doublepost=1505494703][/doublepost]Incoming post on club 17
Well I didn't think I'd get it sorted this evening but I managed, definitely not doing this again it was an absolute nightmare, iFixit classed it as difficult but I never thought taking the clips on the lid apart would be so hard. Also missed an instruction on lining up the phalanges with notches in the base when refitting the lid so spent ages trying to work out why the lid wouldn't shut.
I was very surprised when I put it back together and it worked first time! The screen is pretty much plug and play, you cant put the screws along the top of the display in as they don't line up but apart from that it's all identical. This display does have a little more backlight bleed than the old one but I manhandled it a bit to get it out and it was probably manhandled a bit when it was removed from the last Mac it was in. Pictures:
Before:
After:
[doublepost=1505510232][/doublepost]Now installing a fresh copy of tiger, the copy that came on it had some odd icons installed
I was very surprised when I put it back together and it worked first time! The screen is pretty much plug and play, you cant put the screws along the top of the display in as they don't line up but apart from that it's all identical. This display does have a little more backlight bleed than the old one but I manhandled it a bit to get it out and it was probably manhandled a bit when it was removed from the last Mac it was in. Pictures:
Before:
After:
[doublepost=1505510232][/doublepost]Now installing a fresh copy of tiger, the copy that came on it had some odd icons installed
very cool!
its good to know that it works OOB
I wonder how well a 1920x1200 panel would work...
and I wonder if this 1680x1050 LCD panel works with older 17 inch PowerBook G4s *cough* @eyoungren *cough*
BTW in regards to the backlight bleed, my 17 inch DLSD has the same kind of bleed it seems quite common on laptop panels from 2005-2006.
its good to know that it works OOB
I wonder how well a 1920x1200 panel would work...and I wonder if this 1680x1050 LCD panel works with older 17 inch PowerBook G4s *cough* @eyoungren *cough*
BTW in regards to the backlight bleed, my 17 inch DLSD has the same kind of bleed it seems quite common on laptop panels from 2005-2006.
I'm guessing a 1920x1200 would fit, I guess the way to check if the connectors are the same is to see if the upgrade is possible in the MacBook Pro.
I just need to figure out what's wrong with my left speaker now, it's completely dead but all the cables look good inside.
I just need to figure out what's wrong with my left speaker now, it's completely dead but all the cables look good inside.
Well done! Nice resurrection. Yes, my PB17 is a silent operator too. It has a great thermal design. Physical "room to breathe" space makes a big difference for heat dispersion (and performance) over the 15 and 12" design.
Are the vertical lines in the 1st photo visible or just a photo anomaly?
My '05 G4 15" (standard res) has the same bleeding and/or darkening around the perimeter like that, but my 17 is bright and beautiful across the display.
Are the vertical lines in the 1st photo visible or just a photo anomaly?
My '05 G4 15" (standard res) has the same bleeding and/or darkening around the perimeter like that, but my 17 is bright and beautiful across the display.
The first photo was the old screen, it had the notorious lines down the screen fault that plagues a lot of 17" macs from this era.
For a while I thought the fans didn't work as the case heats up quite a bit but I ran geekbench and could just about hear them over the hard drive. Weirdly there was no dust inside it at all, almost like it had been cleaned recently.
For a while I thought the fans didn't work as the case heats up quite a bit but I ran geekbench and could just about hear them over the hard drive. Weirdly there was no dust inside it at all, almost like it had been cleaned recently.
Yep, I just spotted the "before" and "after" captions. My mistake!
If you feel that the fans should come on earlier to cool things off, search for a little app called G4FanControl which lets you adjust the temperature sensor thresholds for when the cooling fans should rev up and down.
If you feel that the fans should come on earlier to cool things off, search for a little app called G4FanControl which lets you adjust the temperature sensor thresholds for when the cooling fans should rev up and down.
I did that once with my wife's old 12" PowerBook.
The original owner had let it roll down a flight of stairs and the screen was broken. I got it for $50 and a screen replacement for $25. When I let him know what I was doing via eBay email I got zero response back.
Guess it didn't go over too well considering the price I got the PowerBook for.
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